Bad night for Jacques

Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs) Football Club is located in North London. The club is also known as Spurs. Tottenham's home ground is White Hart Lane. The club motto is Audere est Facere (To dare is to do).

Jacques Santini described last night's 1-0 defeat at Portsmouth as 'a bad evening for Tottenham'.

Yakubu's second goal ended our unbeaten away record and Thimothee Atouba was stretchered off with a knee injury.

Michael Carrick finally made his first team debut as a second half substitute but there was little to smile about for the Head Coach as he faced the press at Fratton Park.

"We lost the game, we lost Thimothee Atouba, we didn't play well and it was a bad evening for Tottenham," he pondered.

"I'm disappointed because we only had chances at the end of the first half and the start of the second half. Before that, Portsmouth played very, very well and had chances to score.

"My team has not had a good game today. The game is 90 minutes but my team only played 20 minutes and that's not enough if we want to win."

It was another frustrating night for Jermain Defoe with Shaka Hislop producing a fine save to deny him in the second half and leave him without a Premiership goal in five games.

Asked about Jermain, Jacques added: "Jermain didn't have a good game but it was the same for his team-mates. He had two or three chances but didn't score.

"Jermain would like to score, score, score but the good thing is that before he scores, he is a good team-mate, he plays with his partner and plays for the team. It is a difficult moment for him and his team-mates and we would like to win against Bolton on Saturday."

Also asked if he was surprised by Portsmouth, Jacques insisted: "No, I wasn't surprised by them. They are a good team with good players. The goalkeeper Hislop, Berkovic, Berkovic, the forwards, they are a good team."